Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Education Reform and the American Working Class

The corporate education juggernaut, funded by Gates, the Koch Brothers. the Waltons and hedge fund billionaires, and implemented by a cross section of politicians of both major parties fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the American working class.American workers have not, historically, been revolutionary, but they do fight back when you push them to the wall. So if you keep piling on tests in the public schools and turn them into mini prisons with metal detectors, security guards and no music, no art, and no sports, all to prepare them for jobs that are either non existent or low paying, rigidly policed and require people to work long hours with little hope of advancement, don't be surprised if students turn off, drop out, or become so disorderly that schools have difficulty functioning. And also don't be surprised if a whole bunch choose the underground economy, with all its dangers, to work that is humiliating, low paying and denies people basic dignity. The leadership of this country seems to think that great wealth, and limitless police power, armed with advanced technology can cow an entire population into submission. They are about to discover how mistaken they are.